Moving Forward, with Hope of the AQuAS Program Being Upgraded in 2007

Dear 2007 AQuAS Participant,

Thank you for participating in the Asian Quality Assurance Survey (AQuAS). Fifty-eight laboratories from 14 countries participated in the 17th Survey performed in the last November, of whom 51 laboratories participated in the surveys for Diagnostic Hematology and Clinical Chemistry, respectively, 45 for Urinalysis and 42 for Coagulation. Survey analytic reports for each field will be sent separately.

Survey materials will be dispatched 3 times this year as ever. The 35th and 36th survey materials for the 18th Survey will be dispatched in the end of March except for Hematology QC material which will be mailed in April because production of the Survey materials is delayed. Survey materials for Diagnostic Hematology will be provided free of charge from the Sysmex Corporation Japan, and those for Clinical Chemistry and Urinalysis from the YD Diagnostics Korea and those for Coagulation from the Bio-Rad Laboratories Korea. Shipping of the Survey materials will be also supported by the Sysmex Corporation Japan and the YD Diagnostics Korea and other expenses for the Survey will be provided by the Roche Diagnostics Korea. I on behalf of the AQuAS members express a sincere thanks to all these corporate sponsors.

The Proceeding of the 6th Colloquium of the ANCLS has been already published by the Korean Association of Quality Assurance for Clinical Laboratory and that of the 7th Colloquium has been going on collecting manuscripts from authors.

The 8th Asian Colloquium for Asian Network for Clinical Laboratory Standardization and Harmonization (ANCLS) will be held on 25 - 26 September 2007 (Tuesday-Wednesday) at the Intercontinental Hotel in , , . This will be followed by the 4th PCQACL Annual Convention on 26 - 27 September 2007 in the same venue.

Asian Quality Assurance Survey Program This year I have 2 plans to upgrade the AQuAS Program. One is the AQuAS Program to be accredited by the ISO/IEC Guide 43:1997. For this, I have been preparing all the requirements for ISO accreditation of Proficiency Testing Provider. The other is to build international network through the Web site of the AQuAS that provides database services and informations. It might be ready in 6 months. Next time, it can be possible for each participating laboratory to input its own proficiency testing data on the Web.

AQuAS With the program being upgraded in 2007, AQuAS have made a commitment to help you ensure accurate patient results in today’s challenging healthcare environment.

Sincerely, STANDARDIZATION AND HARMONIZATION STANDARDIZATION ASIAN NETWORK FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY Young Joo Cha, M.D., Ph.D. AQuAS Regional Coordinator

Asian Network for Clinical Laboratory AQuAS Regional Coordinator: Volume 7, No. 1 Standardization and Harmonization Young Joo Cha, M.D., Ph.D. President : Dr. Eddie Ang San, Singapore Dept of Laboratory Medicine Chung-Ang University Hospital March, 2007 224-1, Heukseok-Dong, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul 156-755 Korea Vice-presidents : Dr. Ariel Vergel De Dios, Philippines Tel: +82(2)6299-2720 Fax: +82(2)6298-8630 Dr. Young Joo Cha, Korea E-mail: [email protected] Participating Labs

Philippine General Hospital, Philippines Maharaj Nakornchiangmai Hospital, Thailand Bangkok General Hospital, Thailand Hue Central Hospital, Vietnam Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital, Thailand Boramae Hospital, Korea Faculty of Medical Tech, Mahidol University, Thailand 19.8 Hospital, Vietnam Fatmawati Hospital, Indonesia Bach Mai Hospital, Vietnam Dharmais National Cancer Center, Indonesia Ha Tinh General Hospital, Vietnam , Philippines National Institute of Pediatrics, Vietnam Dr. Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center, Philippines Phu Tho Town General Hospital, Vietnam Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National Hospital, Indonesia Saint Paul Hospital, Vietnam Seoul National University Hospital, Korea Thanh Nhan Hospital, Vietnam Chung-Nam National University Hospital, Korea Viet Duc Hospital, Vietnam Keio University Hospital, Japan Viet Xo Hospital, Vietnam Osaka Prefectural College of Health Science, Japan Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan Osaka City University Medical School, Japan Dr. Fe del Mundo Medical Center, Philippines National University Hospital, Singapore San Lazaro Hospital, Philippines Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea Medical Lab Technology Ltd, Vietnam Asan Medical Center, Korea United Doctors Medical Center, Philippines YoungDong Severance Hospital, Korea Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Philippines Ramathibodi Hospital, Thailand Tongaru Central Hospital, Kiribati Siriraj Hospital, Thailand Mahosot Hospital, Lao PDR Hospital University Kebangsaan (HKUM), Malaysia Philippine National Redcross, Pilippines Samsung Seoul Hospital, Korea St. Luke’s Medical Center, Philippines Tabasan Pathology Hospital, Malaysia Hospital of Univ of Med and Pharm, Vietnam Inst of Science and Tech for R&D, Mahidol University, Central University Hospital, Mongolia Thailand National Kidney Transplant Inst, Philippines Raffles Hospital, Singapore Eone Reference Laboratories, Korea Changi General Hospital, Singapore Pertain Central Hospital (RSPP), Indonesia Tu Du Hospital, Vietnam Korean Association of Health Promotion, Korea Pusat Jantung National Harapan Kita Cardiac Hospital,

Asian Quality Assurance Survey Program Indonesia Asian Hospital & Medical Center, Philippines Srinagarind Hospital, Thailand Fort Suranaree Hospital, Thailand Pasar Rebo General Hospital, Indonesia Mobio Laboratories, Mongolia University of Tokyo Hospital, Japan Mittaphab Hospital, Lao PDR Queen Sirikit National Inst of Child Health, Thailand Sanki-Medical Laboratory, Japan Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla Univ, Thailand Philiphine Heart Center, Philippines

AQuAS National Health Systems Co., Ltd, Thailand National Pediatric Hospital, Cambodia

Welcome STANDARDIZATION AND HARMONIZATION STANDARDIZATION

ASIAN NETWORK FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY ● SOS Medical Mongolia Clinic & Unulab Co., Ltd, Gutal Corporation Building, Khan-Uul District, Ulaanbaatar-36, Mongolia

● American Mission Hospital, PO Box 1, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain

● Chung-Ang University Hospital, 224-1, Heukseok-Dong, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul 156-755 Korea Volume 7, No. 1 March, 2007 Diagnostics